Dark Star Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		2.5
Audio		3.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Dark Star Blu-ray Movie Review

In space no one can hear you laugh.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 10, 2012

It’s never a good sign when you have to explain your joke, as any erstwhile comedian will tell you. But that seems to have been the case with Dark Star, a deliberately lo-fi science fiction comedy that was bizarrely marketed as the latest science fiction extravaganza, in an era that had already seen such mega-spectaculars as 2001: A Space Odyssey and some other serious minded relatively lower budget fare like THX 1138. Co-writer and co-star Dan O’Bannon (who died in 2009 from Crohn’s Disease) wrote a reminiscence of the opening of Dark Star where he and collaborator John Carpenter trekked to a nearby neighborhood theater to see the audience reaction. When they told the theater owner who they were and asked how the audience was reacting, the acid reply was, “What audience?” There were evidently only five or so people in the movie house, and just as evidently none of them were quite in on the joke, so to speak, seemingly not able to divine the film’s acerbic and dryly humorous tone. Dark Star, like George Lucas’ THX 1138, had its genesis in a student film project, and through the intervention of producer Jack Harris (who would go on to annoy Carpenter to such a degree that Carpenter included a brief obscenity directed at Harris in the film), the student footage was optioned and then Carpenter and O’Bannon were given a pittance of a budget to add some footage and get the project ready for theatrical distribution. The result is a frankly odd little film, one that is incredibly ambitious on some levels but which can’t quite escape its obviously lo-fi roots. There’s a certain “not ready for prime time” quality running throughout the film, which, depending on your tolerance level, either adds immeasurably to Dark Star’s inherent charm or keeps the film from ever becoming more than a cult item.

Dark Star in its own way is really much more of a character study than it is a flat out science fiction film, notwithstanding the fact that these characters are in outer space and are in charge of decimating errant planets which may provide obstacles for colonizers who are supposedly following in the Dark Star ship’s wake. The main cast consists of Doolittle (Brian Narelle), Pinback (Dan O’Bannon), Boiler (Cal Kuniholm) and Talby (Dre Pahich). The ship’s ostensible commander, Powell (Joe Saunders), has been placed in cryogenic suspension after an unfortunate accident involving a short circuited seat cushion. These four misfits have been in space for years and have obviously begun to fray at their psychic edges, something not helped by the fact that one misfortune after another keeps happening to both the ship and to them.

There aer a lot of really good ideas bouncing around Dark Star, none more so than the explosives that bring a whole new meaning to the term “smart bombs”; these destructive shells talk and, in one of the film’s best sequences, get involved in philosophical discussions with the crew. Speaking of bouncing, there’s also a weird beach ball with claws that is either an oversized Tribble or a precursor to O’Bannon’s Alien bad seed, depending on how you interpret various sequences. But it must also be admitted that a lot of the film feels labored and amateurish, especially in an overlong first act. Still, things tend to work in enough spurts to keep things from falling completely flat, and there’s a certain unkempt ambience about Dark Star that makes it hard to dislike.

Dark Star is a surprisingly thoughtful little film, especially for one that often indulges in purely juvenile humor. The final act in fact is a minor marvel in existential reasoning and certainly proves that Carpenter and O’Bannon had more on their minds than simply aping then au courant science fiction tropes. Like a lot of cult favorites, Dark Star may not really be the neglected masterpiece its most rabid fans continue to insist it is, but it’s a winning entertainment despite some of its shortcomings. There are indeed mega-spectaculars that have burned through probably hundreds of times Dark Star’s miniscule budget and not produced anything close to the cost- benefit ratio that this often charming outing does.

Dark Star Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Dark Star is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of VCI with a VC-1 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.85:1. Dan O'Bannon's printed prologue to the film states how horrible it's looked virtually from its inception (though his comments are mostly geared toward home video releases), so one has to have reasonable expectations when approaching this title. The first thing to remember is that large swaths of it are sourced from 16mm, and so any judgments must be predicated upon an understanding of that smaller format. The bulk of this film is therefore quite soft looking, without the incredible fine object detail that modern day audiences have come to expect, even from older catalog films that originated in larger formats. (To be fair, it should also be stated that well curated 16mm source elements can provide quite good results, as in the recent Acorn releases of some of the old Poirot series.) The insert in the keepcase states that the "new Blu-ray master has been sourced from a 35mm theatrical print and lovingly subjected to an extensive manual frame by frame digital restoration", which of course casually skirts the issue that quite a bit of the film was blown up to 35mm from 16mm, surely part of whatever issues are endemic to this transfer. Colors here are reasonable, though at times variable—they often pop with at least adequacy, while other shots seem fairly faded in comparison. There is some very minor ringing on display as well. And now to the big issue: noise reduction. Smaller millimeter formats tend to produce more grain, and while there is grain apparent throughout this presentation, it certainly seems like there has been some DNR applied to this release, albeit not to extreme levels. Grain is most noticeable in the (relatively few) brightly lit segments, where it can plainly be seen "dancing" in the background, albeit not as heavily as one might expect. All of this said, the lack of fine object detail is more the product of the source elements than any egregious digital tweaking, at least from my perspective.

Dark Star Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Dark Star features both an uncompressed LPCM 2.0 track as well as an "enhanced" LPCM 5.1 surround repurposing. The 5.1 track tends to occasionally place discrete sound effects (and some of Carpenter's electronica music score) in the sides and rears to give a fitful approximation of immersion, but it's inconsistent at best (which some may actually prefer to overly "tarted up" surround mixes which push the remixing envelope way too aggressively). The LPCM 2.0 mix is obviously narrower but still gets the job done, with clearly delivered dialogue, effects and score. Both of these tracks suffer from occasional distortion, especially in the midrange, where you can clearly hear crackling from time to time. It's nothing so horrible that you can't hear what's going on, but it's noticeable enough that even those who normally don't pay attention to such things will no doubt become aware of it.

Dark Star Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Let There Be Light: The Odyssey of "Dark Star" (HD; 1:56:45). This is a well produced retrospective that includes great interviews with many of the principal cast and crew, though John Carpenter is only present via some archival audio (there's a brief disclaimer at the end of the piece stating he declined to be a part of the documentary). The longstanding relationships between some of the participants is explored, as is Carpenter's contentious history at USC, where he won an Oscar for a short film he made but then got involved in a conflict with the University over who owned the rights to the film. The long, tortured production history of the film is documented, as is its ultimate purchase and distribution and its legacy. Producer Jack Harris offers some piquant commentary on the proceedings.


• Interview with Sci-Fi Author Alan Dean Foster (1080i; 34:44). Foster did the novelization of Dark Star. This has some audio synch issues.


• Interview with Brian Narelle (1080i; 40:08). Narelle played Doolittle in the film. This also has some minor synch issues.


• 3D Guide to the Dark Star Ship allows access to various locations on the ship, with some offering film clips (in SD). Someone should alert whoever authored this disc that a bomb bay is not the same as Bombay.


• Full Length Audio Commentary by "Super Fan" Andrew Gilchrist. Perhaps surprisingly, this isn't the "geek- fest" one might expect it to be, though Gilchrist does have the occasionally annoying habit of "explaining" things like what a lightyear is instead of focusing on the actual film. He has an obviously picayune knowledge about virtually every aspect of the film and relays it in an informative, if somewhat monotonous, manner.


• Written Intro by Dan O'Bannon (HD; 1:10). This also plays before the film itself, and in fact the film does start playing right after the intro if you access this supplement. Strange. Why not just call this "Play Film"?


• Trivia (HD; 4:31) offers text based trivia.

Dark Star Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Dark Star is a lot of fun if taken on its own merits, which include allowing for the kind of amateurish quality that pervades a lot of the film. Still, the writing is often quite sharp, and Carpenter's mastery is firmly on display even this early in his career (note the nice use of interesting setups and an unusually fluid camera for such a low budget feature). The special effects are also quite laudable given the film's budget (they were good enough to draw the interest of Lucas, who hired O'Bannon to work on Star Wars). Frequently cited comparisons to 2001: A Space Odyssey and even Dr. Strangelove (probably due to Dark Star's apocalyptic finale) are tangential at best and ludicrous at worst. The best thing about Dark Star is how utterly unique it is. This Blu-ray offers acceptable video culled from problematic elements, as well as decent audio that also has some issues. But the supplemental package is fantastic, including an absolutely first-rate documentary. This may not be reference quality high definition material by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still a worthwhile release. Recommended.